Giving Compass' Take: 

• Researchers report that young people hooked on their smartphones may have an increased risk for depression and loneliness.

• How can nonprofits make sure teens struggling with mental health get the help they need?

• Read more about depression and social media.

A growing body of research has identified a link between smartphone dependency and symptoms of depression and loneliness. However, experts weren’t sure whether reliance on smartphones precedes those symptoms, or whether the reverse is true: that depressed or lonely people are more likely to become dependent on their phones.

Now, a new study of 346 older adolescents, ages 18-20, shows that smartphone dependency predicts higher reports of depressive symptoms and loneliness, rather than the other way around.

“The main takeaway is that smartphone dependency directly predicts later depressive symptoms,” says Matthew Lapierre, an assistant professor in the communication department in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona. “There’s an issue where people are entirely too reliant on the device, in terms of feeling anxious if they don’t have it accessible, and they’re using it to the detriment of their day-to-day life.”

Read the full article on smartphone dependency by Alexis Blue at Futurity.